Tires!

I think we need a tire thread stickied to the non specific and street racing sections to help people like myself decide on some tires. Right now I need to find some tires for the jetta, and the place i went to wanted to charge me close to 300 for just 2 tires, that was after installation, balancing, alignment, and all these other things. They wanted to charge me for the valve stems! I said forget it, with 300 i could go and buy like 6 tires from a place near my house and they dont charge for balancing, stems or any bull crap like that. The only thing they charge at the place i go to is alignment and even that is considerably cheaper than the first place which was charging 65 for alignment and the place by my house charges 35-40. So now that I established where I am definately going to buy my tires I need to know what tires I should buy, I need something with a decent rating so H and up would be nice, also i want tires that have a pretty good reputation and that are relatively inexpensive, that doesnt mean cheap just on the lower half. Thanks guys for your help and hopefully this will be stickied with enough people giving their opinions.

Having a place for reference is always good.

there was a thread like this somewhere i saw on a forum. let me see what i can find. i think it was sentra.net or somethin.... can't find it. danggit.

:iamwithst

ok i sell tires. we charge 15 bucks for mount, balance, new valve stems and such. of course, different shops have different policies, but id say buy your tires, then take them to a shop you trust for mounting and balancing. valve stems should be replaced whenever the tire is just for precaution. if they are low pro tires, basically anything lower profile than 45 or 50 series, you should make sure the shop you go to has a good mounter and someone who knows what they are doing. yknow so they dont fuck up your rims or brand new tires.

Some questions.

What do you plan on using the tires for? (highway, autocross, spritied country driving, etc)
What size tires do you need?
How long do you want them to last?
What is your budget?

Answer those questions, and I'll give you some recommendations.

that is what was going to be my next statement clawhammer, but you beat me to it.

yeah, they need to be 205/50/15, i need them for everyday driving / some autocrossing, they need to last 6+ months which i know they will last more than that since i wont be the daily driver (my fiance is going to be driving it starting next week and she doesnt drive hard like I do so the only thing that will wear them down is the once a month auto cross, and the tires i have now lasted well over 7 months and they were used.) My price range is about 60-80 per tire, cheaper would be nice of course though.

Oh and the link to the tire section didnt help.

thats not really reasonable price range for what your looking for. if you plan on only wet/dry driving with no snow, id say bridgestone potenza re750, or if you can still find some falken azenis sports, but they have been discontinued. also, yokohama advan es100 (i think thats the name), falken azenis st115, you could look at the dunlop sp sport lineup, or maybe BFG gforce kdw.

thats not really reasonable price range for what your looking for. if you plan on only wet/dry driving with no snow, id say bridgestone potenza re750, or if you can still find some falken azenis sports, but they have been discontinued. also, yokohama advan es100 (i think thats the name), falken azenis st115, you could look at the dunlop sp sport lineup, or maybe BFG gforce kdw.


i dont need really high performance tires i just need tires that will last me long enough and have decent grip, so pretty much something in between cheap tires that will last you forever but have no grip and soft tires that grip like hell but wear out really fast, and what snow? i live in miami, florida. Snow isnt in our dictionaries.

Kumho ECSTAs for $47 (http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Kumho&tireModel=ECSTA+AST)

Yokohoma Avid H4s for $56 (http://www.tirerack.com/tires/Sizes.jsp?make=Yokohama&model=AVID+H4S)

You said that you need it to last 6 months. How many miles do you drive in 6 months? 3,000 miles? 6,000 miles or 30,000 miles?

I would go for Yokohama AVS ES 100s from the Tire Rack:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Yokohama&tireModel=AVS+ES100&vehicleSearch=false&partnum=05VR5ES100&fromCompare1=yes&place=19

That's what I run on my S2000. It's a good tire, has decent grip in the dry and it's not a bad tire in the rain. It will do well in autocross, though it's not THE tire to have. Only bad is the noise when they're more than half-way worn, they're a bit louder than most tires, but not too bad.

i currently have douglas high performance tires on the sentra for what its worth.they are a walmart tire. I put over 12k+ miles on them since i bought the car. Who knows when they were changed last, since they were there then. They are pretty quiet, and get decent grip in wet. Pretty decent in dry as well. Lets just say me + S curve in rain @ 60mph, i still have wonderfull traction, and thats with a hill going down to begin the 's' curve. i have taken that turn at about 85mph if i can remember right, as i dont remember braking for it, since i was running late to school, with another passenger. they are pretty decent in the snow for what its worth as well. they are pretty quiet tires, with the exception if i brake-gas launch.

well, they are $65 from walmart, says good for about 40k miles or so. but it all could be different if you need them in 15s, as mine are 16s. also says your factory tire size with your jetta is 195/65/15. I understand the 205, but not the 50 part.

edit - geez, i swear my tires alone for the sentra will cost me over 300 bucks, just because of the sizing. 205/55/16s...

I had the BFG Gforce KDW tires on my mustang and the difference was night and day with the factory tires. I highly recommend them. Excellent all around grip, predictable break away, quiet. I couldn't have asked for a better tire. For the mustang they were approaching 800 dollars after installation, which was the only downfall. I always considered it money well spent.

if you wana get them cheap tire cornell's made by cooper.i'm going on 5th year and they still look like new.but i keep it in lign and air presure and rotate them.. i got mine at pepboys..good luck..

in 6 months i drive about 15k, but since im not driving it much anymore its gonna be more like 8k. I already got tires though, in the front i have some hankook radials dont know the exact model though but ill tell you later, and in the back i got some used ones for now, they are perelli's had them before and they lasted a long time for used ones. I also go tthe alignment done cause it was very bad. and the whole thing cost 240 which is alot cheaper than the other place which wanted 300 for just 2 tires. the hankooks cost me 70 each, they didnt charge for balancing, installation, or valve stems, only the tires and the alignment on all 4 wheels.

I had Hankooks on my crx. They're nice tires but don't last very long. But they will probably suit your needs.

I had Hankooks on my crx. They're nice tires but don't last very long. But they will probably suit your needs.


they are radials k106's and i was told they last about 30-50k miles depending on driving and that is plenty.